Measuring Stick Mentality
Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” And there was the angel who talked with me, going out; and another angel was coming out to meet him, who said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying: ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I,’ says the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”
Zechariah 2:1-5 (NKJV)
God’s people were held captive in Babylon. So God sent his prophet to give His people a vision. In this vision, a man tried to measure Jerusalem with a measuring stick, but God had other plans for Jerusalem.
The prophet tried to measure what God intended to be a city without limits. We, like the people of Israel, often measure ourselves out of miracles, blessings, and God’s plan for our lives.
Using a measuring stick or capping our belief in God’s greatness can limit God’s provision, design, and power in our lives.
A measuring stick mentality limits God’s provision in our lives.
In 1899, Charles Duell, the Commissioner of the U.S. Office of Patents said, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” In 1876, a Western Union internal memo said that the telephone had too many shortcomings and no value to us. In 1943, Thomas Watson, the CEO of IBM, said there was a world market for “maybe five computers.”
We know these predictions proved to be false, but at the time, these things seemed impossible. Things can often look impossible when we limit God’s greatness.
We’ve allowed our experiences to be the lid or ceiling of what is possible. When we come into a relationship with God with a measuring stick, our relationship becomes less enjoyable. We settle into a minimum mindset when we follow a maximum God. The Bible says it is impossible to please God without faith, and when we enter our relationship with God without faith, God’s provision in our lives is limited.
2. A measuring stick mentality limits God’s personal design for our lives.
Sarah was too old to bear children, yet God promised Abraham that they would conceive. The Samaritan woman married multiple times and was a broken person, yet Jesus shared the Gospel with her. Imagine if Abraham and Sarah allowed the measuring stick mentality in their lives to rule their faith in what they believed was possible. Imagine if the Samaritan woman lived by the measuring stick and didn’t take the Gospel to the Samaritan people. Before He formed us in our mothers’ womb, He had a plan and purpose for us. God is able to do above what we can imagine according to his power.
3. A measuring stick mentality limits God’s power or ability in our lives.
In Exodus, God repeatedly told Moses He heard the cries of His people who were enslaved in Egypt. Moses expressed doubt in himself, but God promised He would use Moses to bring his people out of Egypt. God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called. God wants us to throw out the measuring stick and see what’s possible through Him.
In what area of your life are you putting a limit where God hasn’t put one?
Prayer: God, you are able. We don’t want to spend eternity knowing that you had more in store for us and that we settled for what we thought was possible. God, give us a faith that goes beyond our self-imposed limitations. Stir ourselves up in our most holy faith, Father. Amen.